Dr Peter White's Blog

About Me

I am retired from the Uni. of Queensland, and have numerous interests inside and outside of the uni. I play classical, bluegrass, country and folk guitar (hows that for a mix?) I am a member of the Australian Labor Party and am currently branch secretary of the Mt Coot-tha branch. I'm also involved in developing virtual reality builds and websites. Never bored!

Friday, April 04, 2014

Is the LNP in Queensland born to lose?

I read this morning in the Brisbane Times (4/4/2014) that a recent poll shows that the current Queensland LNP (Liberal-National Party) is in big trouble. They would have lost government if an election were to take place this weekend.

That's best news I've heard all week.

This mob is actually worse than their national counterparts in Canberra, which I discussed in the last blog. BTW, nothing much changing in that arena, except things getting worse. But I want to focus on the state government in this writing.

It takes an enormous amount of skill(?) to manage to enrage:
The medical profession
The legal profession
The judiciary
Accountants
Health workers
Teachers
The entire union movement

And all this in two years, not out. The current fiasco is the insistence that doctors in public hospitals sign an individual contract which from my understanding, strips away almost all the rights of a professional employee.

The legal profession is up in arms over the draconian bikie legislation that is so poorly worded that any group of citizens could be caught up in it, depending on the will of the government. Of course when this was brought to the attention to the government by the judiciary, they were properly slapped into their place.

The accountants are irritated because they have been tainted with the very broad brush of some work done with bikie gangs and/or individuals.

Health workers are outraged because of similar industrial legislation being foisted on them as the public hospital doctors. Not quite the kids back in the mines, but no doubt this may be mooted.

Teachers are pilloried more than usual from this mob and also their awards and pay rates are under threat. This of course leads nicely into the full scale attack on the union movement at large. A century or more of industrial wins for working people are under threat by the reactionary governments in Queensland supported fully by their peers in Canberra.

So workers of Queensland, do unite! If you are not in a union, join one, or start one. Rest assured that your rights, conditions of employment and pay rates are all under threat on the state level and on the national level.

The most recent snippet I read is that the government is now contemplating legislation to include organisations such as GetUp! under a secondary boycott bit of legislation. So ordinary, caring citizens are now also under threat for daring to voice their opinions that may be contrary to the government's will.

What all these threats mean is that the citizen has less power, the government and its rent-seeking backers rather more. This is very bad for all of us. A very famous political slogan of the early 1970s is due for resurrection: It's Time!

So, yes, join something to help combat this onerous LNP crew, whether it be a union, the ALP, GetUp, Avaaz, or a cause dear to your heart.